Stephen Poliakoff, CBE (born 1 December 1952) is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.

Career

In 1969, while still a pupil at the capital's Westminster School, he attracted sufficient attention for Granny, a play written and directed by him, to be reviewed in The Times newspaper. Following studies at King's College, Cambridge, Poliakoff continued to write stage plays, becoming writer-in-residence for the National Theatre at the age of 24, but became increasingly interested in the medium of television, with Stronger Than the Sun (1977 - BBC1 Play for Today), Bloody Kids (1980 - ATV), Caught on a Train (1980 - BBC2 Playhouse) starring Peggy Ashcroft, and Soft Targets (1982 - Play for Today). There were also TV adaptations of his stage plays Hitting Town (1976 - Thames Television/ITV Play for Britain) and City Sugar (1978 - Scottish Television / ITV The Sunday Drama).